Instead, the two-day summit ended Friday with precious little to show. No G-20 country committed itself to investing in the European Financial Stability Facility, the euro-zone bailout fund. The nations only resolved to continue talking about providing additional firepower through the International Monetary Fund.

Meantime, Greece’s political maelstrom swirled, shaking up the summit’s agenda. Friday afternoon, Prime Minister George Papandreou was holding on to his office by a thread ahead of a midnight no-confidence vote.